Month: June 2021

Do you ever have days where you just feel like you can’t do anything?

I don’t mean the common human condition of laziness, where you just don’t feel like, or want to do anything, nor do I mean the days where you feel like you can’t do anything right. I’m talking about fatigue – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual fatigue. The mornings when you have to sometimes literally drag yourself out of bed, because you dread facing another day of the same responsibilities and the same difficulties you faced the day before. Do you find yourself frequently saying, “God, I just CAN’T do this?” Don’t worry, you’re not the first person to feel this way, and you certainly won’t be the last; so don’t despair –

you’re not alone.

We all face the issue of burnout, which can result from a variety of reasons. Common factors include: stress from work, family issues, relationship conflict, overextending one’s self, dealing with difficult coworkers, disorganization at home, and also inner turmoil caused by trauma. Depression and anxiety are two of the most common mental diseases in the world, and absolutely anyone can be susceptible to it, regardless of their individual circumstances. Even if things in your life seem to flowing smoothly, it’s easy to get trapped in a whirlpool of wondering what the point of everything is. No matter if the sun is shining outside, if you feel demotivated and distressed on the inside, there will probably be a rain cloud pouring in your heart and mind. If you’ve caught yourself staring at your daily surroundings, feeling like you’re trapped in some kind of invisible cage of existence, I know exactly how that feels.

Because we have an inner idea of what our version of “normal” is supposed to be like, it can be very easy to get too hard on ourselves.

On the days when we simply feel too worn out to function, we might be capable of performing our daily duties like a robot that’s just following its programming, while neglecting to take care of the inner part of ourselves that needs the most attention. We might just get through the day, checking off boxes on our to do list, but by the time we crawl into bed at night, we still feel empty and unfulfilled. Even if our day was brimming with productivity, it might never feel like it’s enough according to our personal standards of success, especially if these standards are formed by our toxic culture of comparison through social media. As Christians trying to do our best for God, we can sometimes judge ourselves too harshly when we have days like this, calling ourselves “failures” in our minds. While we should never excuse laziness in our lives, the Lord wants us to know that He understands our every weakness. When Jesus asked His disciples to be on watch with Him in the garden for one hour, on the night He would be captured by the Pharisees, they all fell asleep before they even realized it! “And He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, ‘What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.'” (Matthew 26:40-41)

God, in His infinite love, mercy, and wisdom, is all too aware of the human frailties that afflict us on a daily basis.

It’s so easy to fall victim to extreme negative thinking, calling ourselves worthless servants of Christ, all because we feel incapable of accomplishing as much as we’d like to on certain days. However, our hearts should be filled with encouragement, because our Savior’s heart is full of compassionate thoughts toward us. “For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:14) On the days when we feel overwhelmed and burned out from our every day routines, He wants us to remember this simple fact for ourselves too. Surely, if God Himself can exercise patience with us, we can extend the same kind of grace to our own failings when we need it the most. Many times of feelings of failure are caused by a hidden layer of pride in our hearts that we aren’t aware of, falling prey to the idea that we always have to take care of everything by ourselves, without God’s help. When this happens though, we often forget to take care of the most important part we need to fulfill our regular tasks – our inner well being. Just as we need to make time for our physical self care, spiritual and emotional self care is also a must if we are to stay functioning for the next twenty-four hours.

We are not qualified to do tasks based on our own strength; our Creator qualifies us based on His own strength.

When we feel like we just can’t make it through another day without another physical or emotional breakdown, we must remember that our strength to function does not lie within ourselves. We are not qualified as God’s servants because of our innate capability, which is already hindered by our sinful nature; we are qualified only because God has asked us to be His appointed servants. We can do absolutely nothing in and of ourselves, this includes breathing and moving. Nothing we are capable of can be possible outside of God’s direct influence, because He created us to be dependent on Him for everything. This is not meant to be taken as a personal insult, it’s merely the basic fact of our Creation by Him. It’s important that we try to persevere through the strength of the Lord, because He has valuable assignments for us to fulfill that He has blessed us with the privilege of being used for. Even if we feel like we can go no further, He is there to give us a loving pep talk and pick us back up again. “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:24)

Even if we disappoint ourselves with our daily depression, God will always comfort us because He truly cares.

The woes of life can certainly make us feel weary, unwilling to face another day of the same old circumstances. Sometimes we might feel confined in an eternal time loop, just like in the movie “Groundhog Day.” God wants us to know that we can always turn to Him for emotional comfort and support, because He knows what we face each day better than anyone else does. Since He lives inside our hearts, He is constantly aware of every difficulty we face, whether it’s internal or external conflict. The Devil wants us to begin each day feeling defeated from the moment we wake up, dreading the next twenty-four hours because we feel personally incompetent. However, he has no final authority on our destiny, because our Savior has already declared the victory over us that is valid through all eternity. Our feelings and struggles are valid too, but God can help us overcome them if we ask for His help daily like we’re supposed to. “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) So even though we may be afflicted and weary of life itself, we are still worthy of the calling God has chosen for us, because He lives within us and has declared us worthy.

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” (Psalm 42:5)

“Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” (2 Corinthians 4:9-11)

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Galatians 6:9)

– Gloria D. Hopkins